A field trip to JailHouse Brewing in Hampton, GA

A few weeks ago I took a field trip to Hampton, GA to visit with Glenn Golden, the man behind JailHouse Brewing, Georgia’s 4th distributing craft brewery. Glenn visited us back in the summer and officially started selling beer in late 2009. First, a little housekeeping. John, the man behind the @AtlantaBeer Twitter account accompanied me. I will say no more about this because John is a rogue and a thief and he turned the volume down on my music as we were driving. Forcing me to have conversation with him. But again, I will say no more about this.

Glenn was a gracious host. Despite the rain, he opened up the brewery just for us. The picture above is actually a fairly accurate “full tour.” There’s a small little tasting room and entryway through the window. Grain and kegs are stored in the room behind you if you’re facing this way. Here’s the cool part. Are you ready? JailHouse is built in an old jail. A lot of the bricks and bars are original. And it felt pretty authentic. There were times I even thought that John was an escaped convict. Glenn did most of the build-out himself and with the help of friends.

So that’s the downstairs. And then there’s the upstairs…

The upstairs is currently nothing but sub floor and a breeding ground for male deer heads. Glenn’s long-term goal is to build it out for concerts and other events. Which would be pretty sweet. But I bet John would drive down there and turn the volume down on the concerts, now that he knows where Hampton, GA is. Buzzkill.

Currently JailHouse is selling two beers, Slammer Wheat and Mugshot IPA. Both are American, in that they use primarily American yeast, malts and hops. Both are also unique derivatives of the style, in my opinion.

Glenn also shared a high gravity stout that he’s been working on. There aren’t any current plans for production, which is unfortunate because it was my personal favorite of the three beers we shared. Check out those sweet tap handles! I was glad to hear they were done by the same guys we’re using for our tap handles, Tap Handles Inc.

Thanks to Glenn for opening up his doors (and his heart) to us! For those of you who DON’T live in Hampton, you can also buy JailHouse beers on draft in East Atlanta Village at establishments such as Gravity Pub and Grant Central Pizza.